We’re so cold.
This isn’t a surprise as we’ve holidayed in Portugal in January before. European houses are set-up to keep cool in the long hot summers, but this makes them bitterly cold in winter & there’s rarely central heating. Most fortunate Brits are used to cold, dank, damp winters, but with a toasty warm gas centrally heated house to return to. Here, when it’s sunny, it’s actually warmer outside than in & I think our new home in Northern Portugal has been empty for a while.
We were up early to pack & clean our Galician home & not a little sad to leave. The car is bursting at the seams & although the boot is closed, the latch hasn’t properly caught & the rear door can neither be closed, nor released. This is frustrating enough, but then we notice one of the tyres is looking a little low & the pump is behind a side panel in the wall of the boot, completely buried under all our belongings…
Note to self – check the tyres when the pressure pump is easily accessible.
We have no choice but to empty the boot over the back seat of the car. Fortunately, the torrential rain of the previous day has dried & cleared to a beautiful sunny day so we can dump everything onto the drive in the dry. Eventually, rather than being finished with plenty of time to spare, we have moments before our host Maria Luisa is due to arrive & see us off. As thanks for their hospitality & assistance, we’d bought some chocolates & a bottle of wine, with no idea whether this very English gesture is acceptable in Spain. Maria Luisa also came with a gift for us, a lovely traditional Galician fruit/cake dish – we’re not exactly sure which…
With a stop at the vets in Sarria to get Roxy’s leg checked & the bandage removed – it was healing well, but she now needed to wear a cone on her neck – we set-off for Portugal. As holiday lets were expensive, I’d found a house (yellow this time) on a monthly rental near Amarante, an hour’s drive east from Porto. We had a great journey over the mountains, crossing a small river on the motorway to mark the border between Spain & Portugal.
An immediate difference in Portugal was the need to pay tolls.
We made good time with an anticipated arrival time just 30 minutes later than planned. However, as Billy couldn’t find the new address (surprise, surprise), we’d programmed him as far as the nearest big town, Amarante. Leaving the motorway, but not going towards Amarante, we switched from Billy to Google. All went well until we reached Ponte (how many ‘Ponte’s are there in Portugal & Spain?), but this particular ponte was closed.
No-way across the river!
With a little frustration we reversed & took the first turn, uphill as it happened. Trusting Google, we followed the directions with confidence & then we were instructed to make a turn. The road was cobbled & we subsequently discovered that most side roads in this area of Portugal used blocks of the freely available granite for paving. However, as we’d had to inflate a tyre in the morning, Rob was worrying about the wheel which we’d checked at each stop on the journey so-far. We bumpily drove down a windy road between vine fields, very scenic, but Rob was tired, frustrated & beginning to get grumpy. We stopped to check the tyre, all was OK & continued.
We crossed the river on a tiny bridge (yaaay!) & climbed the cobbles up the other side.
I knew our new house was down a lane off the main road, but when we reached the turn-off, it was literally straight down a steep single lane track almost like dropping off the edge of the world! Unwilling to descend in the car, we parked-up at the top & walked. I’m still amazed that we persevered half a mile down the twisty & sometimes muddy, lane.
We reached a yellow building, which looked right, behind high metal gates (locked), but a silver hatchback was parked outside. Knocking, but unable to make anyone hear, I texted our landlord & we were let in by his mum. A lovely lady who enthusiastically showed us around, explaining the necessities in French.
She was too much for Rob who departed back up the track to fetch the car & pets. With a weird combination of French/Porto/English, I understood all that was necessary, but she wanted to explain everything again to Rob. Eventually I persuaded her to leave so we could unpack & settle-in, by this time in the dark.